Reflections
by Dark Qiviut
Summary: Sonic and Shadow. They act different, yet they act alike. They look different, yet they look like a reflection to the other. But what do they think about each other? [Story completed]
1. Reflections, Part I

_(Disclaimer: All canon characters are copyrighted by Sega. The plot is the only thing that is owned by me, and no profit is or will be made in any way.)

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**Author's Note: **This is part one of a two-shot fic that I'm writing. This chapter - part one - is about Sonic's thoughts regarding Shadow. Part two will be about Shadow's thoughts regarding Sonic._

_**Second Note:** Both Sonic's and Shadow's thoughts take place during the Sonic Adventure 2 video game only. Now that the confusion has been taken care of, on to the story.  
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_**Reflections, Part I  
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I did not comprehend why I thought about him like that. I looked at him straight in the eye, and I noticed he looked a lot like me. Just about everything that I saw from him reflected back to me. It was just astonishing, but it carried a lot of negative impact with it.

When I first saw Shadow in Station Square that summer night, I was stunned. Aside from his black body, he resembled almost everything about me. From his attitude, to his outlook, to his skill, he looked almost exactly like me, like a mirrored reflection of myself.

I did not completely understand why I acted so angry at Shadow at the time. I knew I was mad at him for framing me, but that was only a part of the reason why I acted like that. When I saw him, another form of emotion boiled inside of me. I wondered what the feeling was, and I wanted to find out what it was that I felt towards Shadow. Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to figure that out, mostly because I was just too ticked off at my black counterpart at the moment.

While I was locked in a cell in Prison Island, I was able to calm myself down externally, but my insides were still feeling all this negative emotion. It confused me greatly, because this feeling was brand new. I had never experienced this form of negativity before, and it was this form of emotion that I wished I never encountered with. This new feeling towards Shadow… was envy.

I felt lost when it came to that. Why would I ever want to be jealous of Shadow? He was my enemy – my rival. I should not have experienced this awkward feeling. I did not understand why I felt jealous of Shadow at the time.

Throughout my stay on Prison Island, my thoughts were stuck on Shadow, and I felt something else inside of me besides anger and jealousy. I wanted to make sure he got his comeuppance. It was very surprising for me to feel this way. I am usually not someone who wanted vengeance, but this little speck of that third emotion was pushing me towards wanting to defeat Shadow once and for all.

All my emotions boiled over once I ran into him in the Green Forest. My anger intensified every time he mocked me. I wanted to pulverize Shadow for what he did, and I wanted to make sure he knew how I felt before it was all said and done.

Unfortunately, I was not able to do as I promised, because I had to help Amy and Tails escape the island before it exploded. Even though I was happy that my friends were safe, I was a little upset that both Shadow and I were not able to settle our score between each other. Still, it was a good thing that I did not encounter Shadow again during that stretch.

Albeit going through difficult obstacles along the way, I had time to think about my proposed envy towards my rival. I started wondering why I felt jealous of him and if my reasons were logical enough. During these thoughts, I was mentally lost, because I never actually found any real reason to be so jealous of him.

That was until my conscience told me to remember the two confrontations and what drove me to this feeling of anger. I told myself that I was not so sure what it meant, but when I looked deeper and deeper into my thoughts, I began to realize why I acted that way. During my battle with Shadow on Prison island, he matched my every move. When I tried to attack him, he successfully dodged them. And when he tried attacking _me,_ I fended him off, too. However, unlike him, I was not able to get away unscathed. He was able to beat me down a couple of times. In addition, he was able to embarrass me during our brawl in Station Square. Maybe, my jealousy towards Shadow was blind, one that had occurred for no apparent reason. Either that or it was merely to cover up my anger towards him for making me a wanted criminal in Station Square.

Perhaps, that was the case. Maybe, it was because I was so mad at Shadow for framing me that I tried denying it by unleashing an extra amount of resentment towards him. Whatever the reason was, I realized that having an attitude like that was not going to help my friends as well as myself. It was clouding my once keen judgment, and I had to mentally prepare myself so that these negative thoughts would not get in my way.

When I spotted Shadow in the lower region of Space Colony ARK, instead of having the green-eyed monster, I actually started to admire him. Well… a little bit. I was able to notice his potential as well as his ability to manipulate the Chaos energy. On the other hand, I noticed something from him that I did not notice before. Even though it was extremely faint, I could tell by his red eyes that he was feeling some mental pain. That bewildered me greatly, because I did not comprehend why Shadow, as tough and strong as he was, would feel such extreme anguish.

Unfortunately, my thoughts would have to wait as I escaped the lower halls and threw the fake Chaos Emerald inside the Eclipse Cannon, disabling it. I felt relieved that I was able to destroy the cannon, but I also wondered about Shadow's pain behind his eyes.

When I heard about Maria's death and that Gerald programmed Shadow to destroy all the humans, I began to feel extremely empathetic for Shadow, for he seemed to be manipulated by Gerald and that it was apparent that Shadow and Maria were close friends, like being a brother/sister combination.

When I realized that Shadow had died after he and I battled the Final Hazard, I felt like crying, because it seemed that a part of me was taken away from me. Still, I felt happy for him, because he had accomplished his goal: He avenged Maria's death.

And after remembering these flashbacks of Shadow, I came to realize that he was not really a reflection of myself after all. He was someone who had a difficult past and tried the best he could to fight those demons. And I could think of nothing except to feel proud of him for doing what he felt was right.

And I strongly believe that Maria felt proud of him, too…

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_Now, some of you might've viewed Sonic as out of character here, mostly because Sonic is not one who would usually get jealous or act so aggressively. If you did view him as out of character and if it bothered you, my apologies for that.  
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_ Now, I'll conclude by saying that if you liked it, read and review to tell me. No flames, please, and I'll see you in part two of "Reflection_s."


	2. Reflections, Part II

_(Disclaimer: Sonic and all other canon characters are copyrighted by Sega. The plot is the only thing that is owned by me, and no money is or will be made in any way.)

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**Author's Note:** These are Shadow's thoughts regarding Sonic.__**

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_**Reflections, Part II**_

He was another hedgehog, one who looked almost like me. He could match my every move, and I could match his. It was like he was my own reflection.

While I was in the capsule in that military base, I was thinking about Maria and how she died, when a new image suddenly appeared. It was very faint, almost like a blur. I was not sure what it looked like, except that I knew it was blue.

During my trek down the highway, my images about the blue blur appeared, but they were a little clearer than before. It looked like a hedgehog. He was my height and had the same abilities like me. He was like the spitting image of me.

Maybe that was why I was not surprised when I saw him in the center of Station Square later that night. I was able to depict him through my images that it was like I never met him before. In addition, I thought he was more like a waste of time rather than a reflection. Therefore, I left the area… but not without humiliating him in the process.

When I sensed him again at Prison Island, I felt like he would try to get revenge on me for embarrassing him in Station Square a couple of nights earlier. In addition, I started to hold some sort of grudge towards him. I did not know why this occurred, but I knew that if this blind anger took over, it would rattle my concentration. As a result, I decided to taunt him the moment I saw him. I was hoping that my trick would rattle his confidence as well as regain my composure. It seemed to work, for I gave him a few scrapes here and there.

As I used Chaos Control to help both Rouge and me escape the island, I thought why this odd feeling took place. I was already used to being angry, for I still vowed revenge on the Guardian Units of Nations for murdering Maria 50 years ago, but this one was a little different. It was like any time I heard about him, this feeling of anger took over. It was like I was in some sort of blind rage.

However, after arriving at Space Colony ARK, I decided to think about Sonic once again, but this time, I was not going to let my anger get a hold of me. There, I thought about how similar he and I were. From what I recalled, he had part of my personality, my speed, and my agility. He was almost exactly like me, like he was my own reflection. That made me curious.

As time went by, my anger towards him returned, but it was not as bitter as it was once before. I had a guess why that happened, but the longer this hint of animosity I had, the more it grew. Unlike last time, this tension kept on growing to where I got so mad, that the next time we met, I was going to destroy him.

But as I ran to the lower halls of the colony, my conscience asked my why I felt so angry at Sonic. I thought about what it "said" to me, but when I sensed Sonic's presence nearby, I had to push it aside and concentrate on my job.

To be honest, I did not know why I actually grew curious of Sonic or why I asked his name. It was like my brain was just telling me to ask him, and I could not stop myself. However, the other part of my brain was telling me one thing and one thing only: destroy the hedgehog and prevent him from getting to the Eclipse Cannon before it fired.

During the beginning of our fight, he was able to run faster than me and fight better than me. Whenever I tried to counter his moves, he was able to outdo them. I started to become extremely angry. It was like he was trying to show me off, and I just could not stand that. But when he continued countering my actions, I became reckless, and I used my Chaos Spear several times at him. He was able to dodge them, as well, and he escaped from my grasp.

What he did in the lower halls made me so mad at him. It was like he was better than me; he acted like he was more powerful and quicker than me. As a result, I told to myself that the next time we met, I was _not_ going to destroy him; _I was going to maim him!_ I could not stand thinking about him; the thought about him made me want to scream in anguish.

However, as I walked slowly up towards the control room, the feeling of anger changed. A different emotion crept up inside me. I felt hurt, not physically or emotionally, but mentally. It was like my ego was bruised. I was proud to call myself the Ultimate Life Form, and Sonic made me look like a weakling. I felt that I was merely nothing more than one of Gerald's old experiments, that I was not the Ultimate Life Form after all.

But after Amy gave me that pep talk, I reconsidered my thoughts. What she said reminded me about many things, mainly Maria and Sonic. For some reason, whenever I heard Maria in my head, I heard Sonic, too. It seemed like there was a connection to them. Possibly, it was because of their goodwill and their pure hearts. From what I remembered, Maria had a good, caring heart, and she would have died to protect the ones she loved… something that she did 50 years ago. And maybe, just maybe, Sonic would have done the same thing.

Yes, maybe _that_ was why I was so mad at Sonic. Perhaps, it was because Sonic had some good in heart, and I lost it. At least I _thought_ I did. It was just that I held my grudge against the world for so long, I did not see that. Well, that was no more. Once I avenged Maria's death, I would move on and put it behind me… something that Sonic seemed to have done throughout his life.

Perhaps, my thoughts about Sonic might have been correct, because during out battle against the Final Hazard, my anger and hatred for him had vanished. I actually started to admire him, mostly due to his courage and determination. What he did gave me a lot of strength, and I was not willing to let that slip away. It was like he was giving me the chance to avenge Maria's death, and I was not going to let this opportunity slip away.

And with me losing strength rapidly, I felt that I had to avenge Maria's death as quickly as possible. The reason for this urgency… was that I was starting to die.

When I heard Maria's voice, I knew that my time was about up. So, using every last bit of my strength, I helped Sonic teleport the ARK back to orbit… and sacrifice myself in the process.

And as I fell towards Earth, my thoughts were on both Maria and Sonic. I avenged her death and made her proud, for I could hear her voice ringing inside my head, thanking me that she had someone to look after her as she was dying. And I believed Sonic was proud, too, because during my fall towards inevitable death, I heard him talking about how brave and heroic I was, how I sacrificed myself to save Earth.

As it turned out, Sonic was not so bad, after all. He was not really my own reflection to begin with. He was a good person with a kind, determined heart. He was someone who was not going to give up, no matter what.

And it was his determination that made me realize that I was the Ultimate Life Form, after all. He helped me show off my true power; and it did not come by brute force and anger: it came from the good inside my heart. He gave me the willpower to help defeat Gerald's experiment, and he helped me avenge Maria's death. Thank you, Sonic, for helping me complete my quest.

The anger and sadness no longer loomed from inside my heart anymore. The shadows had vanished, and the dark cloud that hung over me no longer existed.

My soul was free at last…

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_What do you think? Read and review to tell me your thoughts. No flames, please, and I'll see you next time.  
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